I had always used Golden Spectro 10W40 in my bike and it's time change it out. What oil are most of you using these days and results? Supposedly synthetic was supposed to make the bike run quieter as I recall . Honda oil was about $8 a quart and I passed on that.

wlkjr; do you realy want to start a war by asking such a loaded question? I have been using Rotella and Delo diesel for so long I can't remember when I started, it is one of the best oils for the older bikes that the factory called for 40 & 50 Wt. oil, dyno or syn. it works great. I hope you don't have you home address list as you will have some guys come looking for you. Ha Ha Good luck.

WINGER3 wrote:wlkjr; do you realy want to start a war by asking such a loaded question? I have been using Rotella and Delo diesel for so long I can't remember when I started, it is one of the best oils for the older bikes that the factory called for 40 & 50 Wt. oil, dyno or syn. it works great. I hope you don't have you home address list as you will have some guys come looking for you. Ha Ha Good luck.

and I thought this was a civilized forum much unlike others I frequent.

If you have always used the Golden Spectro and are satisfied with it why change??? Golden Spectro is a good oil.

"It´s a friggen motorcycle, it´s not supposed to be comfortable, quiet or safe. The wind noise is supposed to hurt your ears, the seat should be hard and riding it should make you s**t your pants every now and then. "

WINGER3 wrote:wlkjr; do you realy want to start a war by asking such a loaded question? I have been using Rotella and Delo diesel for so long I can't remember when I started, it is one of the best oils for the older bikes that the factory called for 40 & 50 Wt. oil, dyno or syn. it works great. I hope you don't have you home address list as you will have some guys come looking for you. Ha Ha Good luck.

Hi wlkjr; I hope you didn't take this serious, I was just making light of what happens every time someone ask's about what oil, you will get so many offering what they use that it will just confuse you more. Like I said, I use Diesel in my older bikes, 15W-40, and the reason is it has all the chemical packs in it that a lot of the new (motorcycle & car) oils doin't have. In a new bike I would only use Syn. oil since the new bikes are built to a much tighter spec's, that rquires lighter weight oil and that means Synthetic is a better choice. I have listed a great site that will give you more info about oil that might help you decide.

Thanks Winger3. It's funny how some posters are helpful and others just irritating. Seems that way on every forum. What's scary is that gun forums are the worst offenders.
I haven't kept up like I did back 20 years ago but the internet sure makes it easier.

From my reading, the GL1200 stators fail for two reasons :
The %$#&%@ three prong yellow wire stator plug - which should be cut out and hard soldered.
and
The fact the poor old stator is immersed in hot, corrosive oil.

Accordingly , I change my 20-50 motor often .. very often ...
every 3000 to 4000 with whatever I can find that's listed as motorcycle oil .
Presently I am using Canadian Tire 20-50 motorcycle oil.
In the past Castrol, Mobile, and while travelling, Walmart Diesel in a pinch .

If you do some on line oil research, most oils start to break down, and lose their viscosity rating around 2000 or so
so ...
If it met AP standards when it was new , then it really doesn't matter
if its $5.50 a litre, $9.50 , or synthetic at $15.00......

on my machine it gets changed at a max of 5000 km

That mIght seem wasteful, but I've had the same aftermarket stator for 19 years, and it still produces 14.2 volts

So its either
.....the hard soldering job
or ...
the frequently changed motor oil .
or....
the Stator gods I am pleasing....

I've seen quite a few people who have never had a stator failure despite extensive years and mileage, and put it down entirely to frequent oil changes. It does make sense, as the most common cause of stator failure is breakdown of the shellac-type insulation coating on the windings, which cause shorts and subsequently hot spots that eventually melt and fail. The theory is that the acids suspended in the oil are breaking down the insulating coating. Correlation is definitely not causation, but I've heard it enough times to give it at least some credence.